Enemies at City Hall
Picon ponders the tit for tat of politics this season. Okay, we’ll take some of the heat because we can be petty and snarky too but is it simply too much this year?
Do we have the wrong people in office?
Too many appointed individuals?
As the dust settles after elections, it becomes clear that our elected officials are driven by the desire for re-election. Instead of prioritizing the needs of the constituents who elected them, they seem more focused on securing their next position to advance further in the political hierarchy. A primary example of this is seen in the case of Councilmember Naomi Duerr, whose re-election in 2022 seemingly set the stage for her run for State Senate. Duerr’s 2022 opponent Jay Kenny, a realtor, owns Doughboy Donuts and is community spirited – he would have been a great fit for her seat. If Duerr wanted to run for State Senate this year, why run for city council two years ago. Duerr couldn’t have taken a break? So she has to be elected to run for the next seat.
Duerr is leapfrogging, not finishing her term, and running for State Senate District 15, which means if she wins, we will again get an appointed Reno city council member and not elected. The very reason we say, “Stop the Cycle” and urge all to vote for Assemblymember Angie Taylor. End the ‘gift of incumbency’ with appointed city council members at the City of Reno.
Meanwhile, we have a twelve-year Reno City Councilmember Jenny Brekhus who doesn’t want to be held responsible for the demise, AKA resignation of City Manager Doug Thornley. Picon has a bit of a soft spot for Thornley and remembers his time at the City of Sparks government, where he was one heck of a nice guy, easy to reach and work with. Did the toxicity of the City of Reno get to Doug? The daily grind of a dysfunctional city council. The atmosphere of dysfunction within the city council and reports of retaliation further add to the complexities of the situation. Thornley should not be placed on paid leave, as Brekhus is going to ask, instead give him the dignity to leave a job he clearly cared about.
Brekhus goes on to discuss retaliation and being warned that internal affairs offices from two agencies told her, “You have enemies at city hall.” But the lack of specifics raises doubts about the authenticity of these claims. There are calls for greater transparency and a willingness to openly address the issues at hand. The absence of clarity and conflicting accounts raise doubts about the level of accountability within the city’s administrative functions. More to the point, Jenny, “name ‘em” the “enemies you have at city hall.”
Picon broke the story about the domestic disturbance at Thornley’s home. We did it with hesitation because it really wasn’t news, it was a husband and wife having a stumble on the marriage path. Does it happen to City Managers, not a whole lot that we could find when we Googled nationally.
Picon sat on the information about the domestic disturbance call for a couple weeks. The only reason we wrote the article was due to the City of Reno denying there were any responsive records to a local political sleuth, Penny Brock. We have later learned that the Reno Police Department was notified and then turned the call over to the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, via a text string. If the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office let the Reno Police Department know they handled the call, there has to be a responsive record. Yet Landon Miller, the PIO for City of Reno assures us the record does not exist.
This is coming from the Reno Police Department, via the City of Reno and we need to remember the hierarchy of direct reports, and realize Chief Nance is a direct report to City Manger Thornley. That is what caused us to request records and write the article. If the city had gone at this with true transparency and advised us what the text string clearly displays, that RPD got a call, turned it over to WCSO deputies, we would have left this alone and never reported it.
We take no pleasure from the fact that Picon along with most media will be present on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at 2PM in Washoe County District Court Department 10, Judge Kathleen Sigurdson to hear case CV24-00231 Robert A. Conrad vs Washoe County. This is the case where the heavily redacted records will be reviewed and since it is impossible to discern relevant details about what occurred. WCSO also did not comply and turn over the bodycam footage The WCSO is citing “redactions were made, and any bodycam/videos have been withheld based on the nontrivial privacy interests of the individuals involved, including avoidance of harassment and embarrassment.
Picon wonders if this was Joe or Jane Citizen would the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department be as protective of the privacy interests of the individuals?